The Legend of Gatso
by Pylat The Goblin
Summary: Gatso, is a weakling of an incursean. More friendly, more trusting; in ways, he's the opposite of the race he was born. He was just another lowly grunt until he found his drive, Empress Attea. How far will gatso go to be Attea's everything?


The Incurseans: vicious, cold-blooded, underhanded warmongers and their soldiers build one of the largest galactic forces in history. Though everyone sees these amphibian-like creatures as apathetic killers, there's a warmer side to these cold-blooded frogs. Romance is not dead in the Incursean empire, just very, very odd. Where one moment a couple could fall madly in love, and another, one of the two dies of 'unknown causes', leaving everything to the last one standing, it's not uncommon for there to be a level of underlying distrust, anger, and outright war against those an incursean loves; family, friends, and the betrothed alike. What is uncommon however, is a more 'human' sort of affection exuded from an incursean. Such a thing is unnatural, a cultural impossibility. To find a specimen befitting this potential of heart, we need to find an innocent individual. Our story leads to the kind-hearted Gatso. Gatso isn't kind-hearted as one would normally assume. Gatso is still a vicious, cold-blooded warrior. What he lacks is the ability to be faithless, though. Gatso will stand by the side of whoever he cares for without question, and instead of selfish action, Gatso practices acts of generosity. Gatso is truly the black sheep of an entire overpopulating race.

The first time Gatso felt- well, anything strong, was in line. Standing at attention in his section, he stood at arms with the rest of his men. Gatso made a great effort to be the best soldier he could possibly be, and that made him perfect to be a part of the current ruler's personal guard. Serious about his work and eager to do what he thought was the right thing to do, Gatso was ready for anything, but somehow, he wasn't prepared to see who he was defending face-to-face. Empress Attea: daughter of the late Milleous; Scion and Teen Supreme of the deathless Incursean Empire. The tight-fisted treatment of her soldiers, and sharp tongue made her an almost abusive ruler, but her methods proved to be most effective. Her short temper and attitude were almost lost in the visage of her Incursean beauty, however. The moment she walked by on his first day on the job, Gatso lost his mind, only to be butted in the head by a fellow guard's stock. That day started a fire in Gatso's heart. He knew he'd do anything for the empress.

Deep in a conflict, on the surface of the windy plains of Aldabra, the incursean troops deploy. Their best technology is set out to destroy the flying Geochelone Aerio species by the doesn. The tanks roll onward, backing up a fleet of gargantuan drilling machines, and a single airship is used as a base of command where Attea, and of course Gatso are located.

"These shell-heads don't know what kinda gold mine they're sitting on, once the drills dig deep enough, we can start excavating, and once we get enough of this Aldabran Tolium, we'll be able 'ta blow anyone out of the water." Attea muses. Her scheme, although not her's entirely, was a stroke of genius.

"And of the remaining Geochelone Aerios?" A fellow commanding officer asks, standing stiff as stone, as he was trained.

"Easy. Ya kill 'em on sight." She says, smirking at the thrill of bloody combat.

In another area of the ship, Gatso stands guard. He doesn't try to think about how boring it is to stand still and do nothing, or even how annoying the odd thumping sound above him was constantly getting louder, but it gives him time to almost meditate and maintain a peace of mind.

HIs zen was all too quickly broken, however, as Ben- or should I say Diamondhead, blows through the several solid hulls of the ship, and breaches into the heart of the its bridge, landing right above Gatso. His feet were luckily spread out far enough to miss the frog's head, but the scare shook him up a great deal. Gatso readies his rifle and shoots right in between the eyes, just like in his training. The bolt of energy bounds straight off of Diamondhead's reflective structure, and bounds straight for Gatso's face. The impact of the shot was strong enough to send him flying a few feet back. Smouldering frog skin wafted into the air, and it smelled terrible. Gatso quickly reseted to his feet, to which Ben challenges, taking a step toward him.

"You're a jumpy one, aren't you?" Ben quips, aiming his deadly fist at poor Gatso.

Gatso, with no response, no plan, and no chance, decided to run. His feet moved swiftly as he dodged doors, columns, and other Incurseans to head for the debriefing room. Luckily, he moved much quicker than a Petrosapien, and was able to skid on his heels at Attea's door. Heaving and choking, Gatso shouted immediately, interrupting the meeting.

"He's here!" Gatso screams, his eyes bulged out having seen what could have been his mortal end.

Attea scowls at Gatso, truly seeing something incompetent in him, "You don't get a badge for running, soldier, get out there and stop hi-!"

Before Attea' could finish her command, half of the wall behind her disintegrates in an explosion. Gatso could only watch through the doorway while everyone moved away- some by will and some by force of the blast. The calamity shakes up everyone inside, as the harbinger of chaos, Ben Tennyson- morphed into Upchuck, walks in before returning to his natural form. He pays very little attention to the recuperating incurseans inside, or even to gatso in the door. The commodity in his view was Attea. He bore his signature smirk "Oh, did I interrupt something?"

"Tennyson," Attea growls. As she rises to her feet again, she glares Ben in the eye. She could feel how difficult it was, to hate him and be so attracted to him at the same time.

"I'm surprised, you never call. And to think you liked me,"

"Well.. you.. you thought wrong, tennyson. You should already be used to lonely nights in bed though."

"Says the most hated girl in the universe"

Attea, with nothing more at her arsenal, fumes with rage. The building, colliding emotions cloud her thought, and in a flash Attea whips out her blaster, ready to fire at her target even before taking aim. The first shot is fired, and granted, Attea is an excellent shot, the volley zooms by, only inches away from Ben's cheek. Ben flinches a split second too late, crouching and ducking his head under his arms.

"Hey! If you're so eager to play," Ben says, readily ducking behind the table in the center of the room. With a rough scroll through the categorical list of alien samples at hand, ben actually finds one he intends to use, and slap of the activation button, Ben begins to grow and morph into an incursean himself. "maybe I should beat you at your own game!". He leaps forth, bounding over the table, and closes the distance between Attea, unfortunately caught off guard. Ben throws his foot out in front of him, and as it connects, Attea gets knocked back to the wall behind her.

This would not do by the jurisdiction of the soldiers nearby, and they all start to fire their rifles at Bullfrag.

Gatso had his chance. He took precise aim, and with reckless abandon, he advances. Rounds fly at blinding speeds straight towards the large incursean, but none of the shots ever land. Bullfrag bounces across the room with impressive speed of his own, getting closer and closer to Gatso untill *SMACK*- a foot connects against Gatso's face and down he goes. Ben hurtles across the room several times. In a blur of green, Bullfrag appears in a new spot and another body drops to the ground. Gatso can only watch as his men helplessly lose against Ben, the arrogant. Attea too watches as her soldiers drop like flies. The sight has plagued her one too many times now.

"That's it, Tennyson!" She shouts, using a single hand to fling the table in the center of the room aside, and painfully squishing 3 of her men in the process "You're not gettin' away with shamin' my empire again."

Bullfrag crosses his arms out in front of him to brace as Attea launches a punch at him faster than he can dodge, and with more power than her little frame should manage. His right forearm catches the impact, and the shock rattles to the bone. As he silently reeled in pain for a split second, attea blasts Bullfrag in the gut with a second upward blow with her left.

It was too much to take at once, and Bullfrag goes over with a heave. Attea's relentless fury unleashes a blast of the knee to the incursean's muscle-toned chest, powerful enough to send him a few inches into the air.

Gatso watched as his empress showed the true might of an incursean- something many never truly harness. Gatso wheezed a quiet cheer out as he watched from the sidelines.

Before the hero could land flat on his face, Attea cupped one fist into her other hand, swinging both above Bullfrag's hunched body. With prodigious might, she swings her fists down, piledriving into Bullfrag's back, and down he goes with a loud thud upon the hard metal floor.

Ben personally sees Attea in a new light after such a brief yet brutal thrashing. Every time they meet, she seems to get so much stronger, and more vicious as well. This young Incursean female might even be the strongest Incursean alive; even stronger than Bullfrag, and that poses a grave issue!

"Get up, Tennyson," Attea barks as a foot thrashes into Bullfrag's ribs. He skips through the door, and lands in the hallway. Attea advances, nowhere near done with him, "That mouth 'a yours can only get you so far!"

Ben thought quickly, as quick as his mind would allow. He fought through all his throbbing pain, stumbling as he got on one leg, then finally another. Despite the anguished grimace on his face, Bullfrag wiped all emotion and began to smile confidently as he stood up.

"Whoa whoa hold on, Attea," Bullfrag shouts. He lifts his arms at shoulder height as he straightens up; he couldn't bear to hold them any higher. He stared straight into Attea's heart from beneath those sunglasses, "you and I both know we don't have to fight right now."

That overconfident posture, his tone, and especially that rehearsed, shit-eating grin plastered on his face; Attea had to stare at Bullfrag as he tried to surrender and make peace. It disgusted her. But on the other hand, it's Bullfrag she's staring at. His manly stance, his handsome tone, and even the picturesque look on his face; Bullfrag was an Incursean Adonis, and she couldn't just beat that to death. "...Keep talkin', big guy..." Attea responds, clearly displeased, but not unwilling. She stands up straight, leaving one hand on her hip as she strips Bullfrag down with her eyes. She could only imagine how well endowed Bullfrag was, seeing how he's made of the best of Incursean genes.

"If it were up to me, we'd be outta here and off doin'.." he clears his throat, "Well you get the idea, right?" Bullfrag says. Ben was never good at pitching woo. Video games and alien combat were his natural forte, but being a lover... He lost more than one chance with Julie, and even with Kraaho girl Ester. His track record was lackluster at best.

"Yeah? And say I don't. How 'bout you.. describe it to me," Attea responds coyly. She can't tell if it's Ben or his novel Incursean DNA sweet-talking, but it quickly put her in a mood she never felt before. Attea made sure she gave out all the signals. She clutches under Bullfrag's belt, ready to get for business. She tugs forth a little. Attea is ready to burst from her clothes and do whatever her body pleased. Attea's enthusiasm shows no end.

Ben, having had enough a long time ago decides to switch aliens right away, but his arm doesn't respond. Bullfrag has begun to go rogue. He places his hand on the wall right behind attea and leans close, making sure to stifle the other as much as possible "Well I'd take that royal little body of yours..." Bullfrag whispers. Before he could get to the good part, however, Ben's control suddenly returns. He slams the omnitrix once to change his form, and out Rath comes, in the same dominant position he was in earlier. Using the sentence Bullfrag started, Rath roars aloud "AND BEAT EVERY WART AND FRECKLE OFF UNTIL NOTHING BUT A HEAVING MASS OF BRUISES REMAIN!".

Attea's ears rang with the echo of Rath's professional wrestling voice. Anyone who has to suffer through Rath's voice that close up should be deaf- Attea counts herself lucky in that regard, but in the moment, concentrates on getting revenge for toying with her emotions. She sweeps her arm outward at Rath, but the Appoplexian catches it and begins another full-blast tirade.

"LET ME TELL ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, WART FACE. RATH HAS NO COMPASSION FOR WARLORDS, EVEN THE FEMALE ONES- ESPECIALLY THE FEMALE ONES."

Rath's arrogant promises of pain and suffering to come brought a stir to the incurseans that were still conscious and awake, Gatso including. The incursean peons could only bear witness to the spectacle as Rath rambled on, they could swear he had no clue what he was saying as he sputtered and shouted colorful insults and obscenities. Everyone grew increasingly enraged, especially Attea, who hung by her clothing in Rath's clutches, a mere ragdoll in Ben's sick game. Gatso looked amongst his comrades, and saw nothing but shamed faces. Everyone turned a blind eye to the abuse, knowing they would only get hurt more in the process. But Gatso was disgusted at the thought of standing aside, of abandoning someone in their time of need. Gatso ignored his screaming pain and rose to his feet, dipping back briefly as his legs would buckle in frailty. He managed to press himself against the wall as Rath faced away from him, finished with his tit-for-tat with Attea, which he lost quite easily. Enraged, Rath raised his fist, ready to strike. Now was his chance to stop everything.

Gatso doesn't have the deepest voice, or the loudest voice out there, so his vocal presence isn't one to be feared intrinsically, or even at all really, but he let loose a battle roar so loud, he felt it could piercre the gossamer veils of his perceived heaven, leaving a wake of flame and destruction to the shameful pacifists of life.

He charged forth with power he didn't even know he had.

"Just do what you were trained to do, Gatso," he thought to himself, sprinting forward almost faster than his wiry muscles could manage. "Aim for the legs!"

Gatso shouted more in that moment than he ever had in his life. And in retrospect, he probably regrets doing so. If he were to successfully blindside Rath, he would have tackled him to the ground, and though he'd get kicked in the face, he would have left an opening for Attea to stun Ben and finally do away with him. For good. He would have been a hero- second only to Attea herself, but an honored, decorated war hero nonetheless. But he didn't do that. He shouted aloud and charged with reckless abandon. And in an inevitable sequence of events, Rath turned his head, spotting Gatso in an instant. And with his natural reflexes, he wrenches his body forth, and extends his arm at just the right moment.

Gatso leaps forward, aiming for Rath's legs. His reaction time keeps him from noticing in time. Noticing the back-handed claw swinging right for him. And it connects right at his cheekbone, and a knuckle even buries into his temple as well.

Now, Gatso had never felt like a bitch before. There was never any oppotune reason to ever feel emasculated. But in one swift turn, Gatso had been bitch-slapped with the force of absolute superiority. What was Gatso to do? He was a mere dool in the scale of his importance and ability compared to Attea or even Ben's. He was inconsequential, and the world he had lived was a mere fraction in the lives of Ben and Attea. He wanted to be that person. A prominent figure. Something of others' interest, and he vowed to become better. To become stronger, more attractive, better able to win the heart of the empress.

But for now, he was just Gatso.

As he finally hit the floor, Gatso went out cold, again. Attea and Rath only paid a moment's grievance to the pity of the moment, disrespectful as it might have been.

"Pathetic," Attea said, uncaring to what her fate was from then on.

"Your lackey, your problem," Rath said as he returned his gaze to Attea, before bearing his sharp teeth in a malicious smile. Attea gulped and closed her eyes, knowing she'd at some point get the 'Sirius Butt-Kicking' she deserved.

Gatso awoke to the sensation of a knee thumping into his waist. The air around him gently moved in a single direction as well. He was certain he was moving. In fact, he was sure he was being carried.

"Attea orda'd me ta help rake up tha bodies. I'm sendin' you ta the infirmary, jus so you know," the Incursean said. Gatso's stirring must have tipped him off.

"Wh- Whh- wh- WhAAt.." Gatso tried to say, but the shoulder pounding air out his lungs from his diaphragm made it hard.

Gatso looked closely at the Incursean carrying him. He too was different looking from the common infantry, a curious situation indeed. His shoulders were broader, his gait was large, and he talked with that incursean accent. Gatso didn't know how to do all that himself. He was inexperienced in being an Incursean adult.

"HeEYy, what's you- YYour name?" Gatso asked curiously.

"Dignitas, but everyone call me Tad," he responded quaintly. Showing respect in the exchange, Tad sets his comrade down so the two faced each other, "What about you?"

"Gatso, sir," he said. Looking his comrade in the face, he could just see an air of masculinity in him. Dignitas was taller than Gatso by a sheer foot. The musculature of his body was thicker and much more visible. The striations of each fiber accentuated each flex and stretch the incursean made. And even his face was more masculine. Taller and more broadly angular, his face looked a little like Bullfrag. Clearly Dignitas was a great specimen of the Incursean race.

"Don't be so formal, kid. Just call me Tad." He says, laying a hand on his new friend's shoulder. It was uncommon for incurseans to take a liking to each other, but when it happened, it was a moment to revel in.

Gatso saw in Tad a friend as well. He saw a friend, a paragon, and a teacher in Tad. Before him laid the answer to winning Attea's heart someday- being the alpha-male that could take the center of her world. "Uh, permission to ask freely, sir-"

"Honestly kid, don't call me sir again,"

"Sorry. Still, I think you could help me better my chances with a certain... girl... I have an eye for,"

"It's the princess," Tad guessed with a sigh. Gatso's silence painted 'absolutely' on his face, and none of it amused Tad very much.

"Don't be a creep, Gatso.." Tad says, not sparing a moment to take an immediate leave. Gatso stood by in the same place, his head locked at the angle he kept to look Tad in the eye. He wasn't there though, and it took Gatso a while to realize what happened. Looking behind him, he could spot his only hope to ever make it to maturity walk away. Gatso couldn't let the opportunity leave him, so he ran back.


End file.
